Nice Things Said

Back Cover Blurb

Duong felt a surge of adrenalin course through him the minute he entered the bizarre-looking chamber. There was something ominous and unearthly about it, an aura that he found quite disturbing.

He took out his pistol and flipped off the safety.

When he tapped one of the walls with the butt of his gun, he heard a metallic sound resonate throughout the cave-like room. Were the walls made of some kind of an alloy? And if they were, how far did the metal stretch?

With his halogen light at arm's length, he walked a hundred feet when a buzzing sound brought him to a halt. He thought, it's just nerves. But with each step, the hum grew louder, the noise reminding him of a high-voltage electrical current. It seemed to emanate from somewhere above his head. Pistol in hand, he continued to move forward.

Suddenly a female form popped out of the darkness. Assuming it was LaMott, he automatically squeezed off a shot. With cold sweat trickling down his face, he shouted her name. There was no response. He scanned the enclosure with his light. Nothing. The shadow-like figure was no longer there.

A noise behind him made him turn abruptly just in time to catch a glimpse of someone moving out of his line of sight.

Prior to retirement, Justin Hawkins' specialty was locating persons gone missing in foreign countries. When he receives a desperate call late one night from renowned scientist, Richard LaMott, Justin's interest is piqued when he learns that LaMott's archeologist daughter, Angelina, and three of her colleagues have disappeared in Cambodia.

Angelina was attempting to discover more information about a huge, mile-long, hollow metallic object that's buried more than a hundred feet under the ground. Her father had spotted it buried in the jungle using a revolutionary piece of equipment he had invented.

Hawkins has no inkling that his search will embroil him in a maelstrom of such implausible events that he will end up questioning his sanity.

A Review

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In Michael Cole's twelfth novel, Alien Strain, an alien and his wife, whose distant ancestors were originally from Earth, decide to pay humanity a visit. Prior to their departure, they place a copy of their psyches inside a couple of spheres. The spheres are used on their planet to prolong life by having their neural network inserted into a clone. They hope that if something happens to them on Earth, and a human makes bodily contact with the spheres, they will be able to continue their lives inside a human host. When they land their spacecraft in Cambodia, a massive earthquake occurs.

Centuries later, his sphere is found. It ends up being sold to a wealthy businessman who wears it as an accoutrement to a masquerade party. Once the alien strain enters his body, the process goes awry, and a battle for survival begins. It's one thing for an alien to enter a clone and quite another for it to enter a living entity, particularly one that's human. The alien attempts to take over, but the human's immune system resists his advances. Eventually there can only be one victor. The question is, who will it be?

Several factors motivated Cole to write this novel: He discovered that scientists have been experimenting with a process that in the not too distant future will enable a human brain to operate a robotic device. This made him wonder if technology might not eventually evolve to the point where one's entire neurological framework could be transplanted into another biological organism.

This premise makes for a fascinating science fiction tale. Could it very well happen?

Alien Strain was published by Foremost Press. It can be ordered through local bookstores and at ForemostPress.com, and at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.com.
ISBN 10: 1-939870-25-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-939870-25-4
146 pp, $11.97